Fiona Toye can trace the family-run company’s roots back to the Toye family's Huguenot descendents, who settled in the East End of London and created the textiles and metals business that became Birmingham-based Toye, Kenning & Spencer.

Formally founded in 1685, the company has a different set of priorities to its younger peers.

“We are an incredibly old firm with incredibly old craft skills,” says Toye, the AIM-listed company’s chief executive. “We have diversified again and again and we are having to innovate again.”

Toye makes military and civilian accoutrements – everything from specialist ribbons to medals such as the OBE, CBE and Chelsea Flower Show Gold, through to sporting trophies like the FA Cup and the Davis Cup.

Toye does not want the Chancellor to add any further costs on running her business – either through fuel duties, shipping costs or tax rises.

She is furious that capital allowances are being cut from next April and wants the Chancellor to reconsider. “It does smart as the one thing that they attack in terms of taxation is the one thing that could make a difference in encouraging capital investment,” she said.

VAT should be cut on British made goods if possible. “It would not be allowed in Europe but they protect their own,” Toye says. “The Chancellor help keep manufacturing here through better procurement. With the Ministry of Defence you can win a tender and then see it put through a reverse auction. All that means is that it goes to the cheapest, not the best value. It discourages manufacturing in the UK.”

She says Whitehall had to adopt some of the more protectionist practices she suspected were used in France and Germany, where overseas bidders are put at a disadvantage. “It’s a joke but here it is a level playing field,” she said.

The constant pressure on price means that Toye has to makes savings elsewhere. “One of the most crucial things is bringing along the next generation, but our margins have been driven down so far I can’t afford do take on those apprentices any more,” she says. So she is looking for more support to pay for the training of apprentices – in a similar vein to the £1bn Jobs Contract announced last week.

The Chancellor is expected to talk again about rebalancing the economy towards manufacturing as part of his ongoing Growth Review in his Autumn Statement. This is welcome, says Toye, but the Chancellor has to do more than talk.

“Championing is one thing but help us become more competitive. Health and safety rules through to maternity leave and the abolition of the default retirement age all take their toll,” she says. “It is all very frustrating and amazing how much management time is taken up by these things.”